Olivia Wilde got together with her friend/partner, Barbara Burchfield, fashion retailer Shopbob, and Alternative Apparel on Monday at The James Hotel in NYC to promote a super cool Message Bag that was sold for charity.

Sean Penn just raised $2 million for Haiti while at the Cannes Film Festival!

This comes right on the heels of Penn yelling at the world for abandoning Haiti after their 2010 earthquake, and it seems like Penn's and Paul Haggis' idea to fundraise at the even more than paid off.

The event was the first ever for the festival since 1996, and was the first time that three separate charities banded together to help one cause.

The last time the festival did anything like this came in the form of benefit screenings!

The main breadwinner for the charities was the auction. It included a three day trip to Haiti WITH Sean Penn (each of the three bidders who won promised over $128k each!), a Bono guitar, a lunch date with a Victoria's Secret Angel, and VIP access to their 2012 fashion show!

So fab! We're glad that Sean witness that while some people may have forgotten, not everyone in the world has!

In the latest development from John Edwards' campaign corruption trial, former speechwriter Wendy Button told the jury that her boss reached out to his Hollywood friends when shiz hit the fan with Rielle Hunter.

Before delivering an official statement in January of 2010 about the child he had out of wedlock, the Senator had copies sent to Sean Penn, Madeleine Stowe, and director Paul Haggis. Button said DOZENS of revisions were made to the statement before he delivered an apology to the public.

Uh oh! We hope he doesn't get hassled by Tom Cruise for speaking up about this!

For the first time ever, Crash/The Next Three Days director Paul Haggis has opened up to The New Yorker about his experiences with Scientology.

Here's what he had to say about it:

"I was in a cult for 34 years. Everyone else could see it. I don't know why I couldn't."

"There was a feeling of camaraderie that was something I'd never experienced; all these atheists looking for something to believe in, and all these loners looking for a club to join."

According to Haggis, he bailed on the church when they "declined to publicly denounce Proposition 8."

Good for U, Paul! We're VERY happy to hear that!

As one could imagine, The Church of Scientology did not appreciate The New Yorker's article, and they wrote a lengthy rebuttal statement, which you can check out, along with MUCH more from Haggis about Scientology, HERE.

We cannot commend him enough for his tireless commitment to aiding so many people in need!

Ever since last year's devastating earthquake in Haiti, celebrities such as director Paul Haggis, Maria Bello, Olivia Wilde, and countless others have completely immersed themselves firsthand in the struggle to rebuild the broken country.

Sean Penn, however, seems to have gone above and beyond, and a year later, admits that he has no plans to leave the country.

In fact, when he's not working, he will live in Haiti permanently - as the camp manager for 55,000 displaced residents!

He explains:

“There’s a great thing Paul Newman said about his long marriage. ‘As it turns out, we still love each other.’ That’s how I feel: ‘As it turns out, I’m still here.’ The amount we’re getting done, versus what they’re doing — which is nothing. Quite honestly, if you want something done, do it yourself. They said, ‘You can stay if you’re effective. If you stop being effective, we kick you out.’ I started paying for stuff, and that was when I thought, ‘OK, I better figure this out, because at this burn rate I’ll last about a week and a half.’ I didn’t have commitments, except for way in the future; I had nothing pressing. I got practical issues, like everybody. I had two federal cases against me at the time, and one criminal one. I had just got taken for one half of everything I had in the divorce, so it’s not like I don’t have to work. A much more profound change in life for me personally was not being able to raise my son in a whole family through high school. When I first came to Haiti, the decision was to go for two weeks. Let’s face it, I’m a person that feels pretty alienated from the rest of the world and never felt understood by anyone. There’s no end point. This is where I’ll be when I’m not working, for the rest of my life.”

Wow.

Say what you want about him, but we're completely blown away by his compassion and resilience!

It's one thing to cut a check - which is a wonderful gesture - but to immerse yourself in such hardship, and give up your life to help those in dire need?! Heroic!

Keep up the good work, bb! You have truly gone above and beyond in your efforts, and we know that there are thousands of lives grateful for what you've done!